Scottish Executive

Carers

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how carers are made aware of their entitlement to an assessment of their support needs under section 12AB of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 as amended by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to section 12AA of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 as amended by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, how many requests there have been by carers to local authorities for an assessment for accessing services in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04 to date.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to section 12AA of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 as amended by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, how many assessments of carers for accessing services were conducted by local authorities in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04 to date.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been for a local authority to assess an application made by a carer under section 12AA of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 as amended by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04 to date.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 places a duty on local authorities to notify carers who appear to them to be eligible to have an assessment of their support needs as a carer, that they may be entitled to have such an assessment. The act also provides powers to require health boards to draw up NHS Carer Information Strategies that will set out how NHS staff will similarly inform carers of their right to an assessment. Executive guidance to the NHS on the format and content of NHS Carer Information Strategies will be available later this year. Authorities and boards must be able to demonstrate compliance with any legislative duties placed on them. The Executive is committed to monitoring the impact of its Carers Strategy, including the new legislative measures to support carers. From 2004-05 the Executive will be collecting data from local authorities on the numbers of carers’ assessments being carried out. Other performance indicators and outcome measures will be developed in due course. These are expected to look at the time intervals between an assessment being requested, the assessment being carried out and the provision of services.

Carers

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to section 12AA of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 as amended by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, whether there is a target in respect of the time it takes a local authority to conduct an assessment of a carer’s support needs.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive has not set a target in respect of the time it should take to conduct an assessment of a carers’ support needs. I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6151 on 17 March 2004 which sets out the Executive’s position on monitoring carers’ assessments.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Carers

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many carers’ assessments there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Mr Tom McCabe: This information is not held centrally at present but I would refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6151 on 17 March 2004 which sets out what the Executive is doing to collect this information.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Carers

Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what policies there are to protect carers providing long-term care from having respite care withdrawn without adequate and equitable alternative provision.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive recognises that respite care is an integral and central part of the range of health and social care services which should be available to service users and carers. Our Partnership Agreement reflects our firm commitment to develop respite provision across Scotland and over the last three years £22 million has been provided to local authorities specifically to develop short break services. These resources are just part of the total resources available to local authorities. Authorities must decide, with other statutory bodies including health boards, how much to spend on respite provision. It is a matter for local authorities, working with other agencies and with users and carers, to make decisions on respite provision for individuals. All local authorities have complaints procedures in place to address any concerns users and carers may have about care management or service planning and delivery decisions.

Community Care

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive what a local authority’s statutory powers and duties are in respect of funding residential care for elderly people.

Mr Tom McCabe: Local authorities have a duty under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to make such arrangements as they consider appropriate for the provision of suitable residential accommodation for persons assessed as needing such care.

Concessionary Travel

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will begin consulting on proposals for the introduction of a national off-peak bus scheme as part of its commitment to concessionary travel.

Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to question S20-1188 on 29 January 2004 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/sch/search.

Dentistry

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time has been for acute orthodontic treatment in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Malcolm Chisholm: Orthodontic procedures are mainly carried out within hospital and community health settings on an outpatient basis. Most patients will receive treatment at their second and subsequent outpatient appointments. Waiting time information is only collected for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant following referral by a general medical/dental practitioner.

Drug Misuse

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many services there are for intravenous drug users that provide access 24 hours a day, broken down by local authority area.

Hugh Henry: It is for local drugs services to set their opening hours to meet client needs and operational priorities, and we do not collect information centrally.

  Accident and Emergency Units are staffed on a 24 hour a day basis for emergency cases, including overdoses, injecting wounds and related infections. The "Know the Score" Information Line is also available 24 hours a day for anyone, including intravenous drug users, who wants information on drugs issues.

Drug Misuse

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources have been spent on education and advertising for intravenous drug users on the ways in which injecting equipment can become contaminated in the process of drug preparation.

Hugh Henry: Advice and information on the risks from injecting come from several sources, eg needle exchange workers, medical practitioners and written materials. It is not, therefore, possible to quantify aggregate expenditure on these activities.

  Through our Know the Score Drugs Communications Strategy, written materials on preventing initiation into injecting, hepatitis B and hepatitis C have been disseminated widely to drugs and prison services across Scotland. These materials highlight the risks of transmitting blood-borne viruses through injecting.

  We are also considering the recommendations from a recent research study by the University of Paisley which observed injecting practices among a group of drug users.

Drug Misuse

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any "safe injecting rooms" exist for intravenous drug users and what plans it has to expand or provide this service.

Hugh Henry: We are not aware of any supervised injecting rooms in Scotland, and we have no plans to support such facilities.

  Although injecting rooms are available in some other countries, current evaluation evidence is not particularly robust. Before such facilities could be contemplated for Scotland, complex issues of legality, safety and security of staff and clients, and community reactions would have to be addressed.

Drug Misuse

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people continued to be intravenous drug users whilst receiving methadone treatment in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Hugh Henry: This information is not held centrally, although there is research evidence to show that treatment, including methadone, can lead to reduced levels of illicit drug use and injecting.

Elderly People

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that a more strategic approach is taken to involving older people in shaping public services, given the findings set out in Involving Older People: Lessons for Community Planning .

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources have been allocated to reducing negative attitudes towards older people and increasing their expectations of the effectiveness of their involvement in planning public services in each year since 1999.

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to reduce negative attitudes towards older people and increase their expectations of the effectiveness of their involvement in planning public services.

Mr Tom McCabe: A Partnership for a Better Scotland makes clear the Executive’s commitment to ensuring public services are designed around the needs of individuals.

  Community engagement is a key part of the community planning process. Communities Scotland are developing national standards to improve the way communities, including older people, can influence the planning and delivery of services. The standards are being developed from a series of focus groups, which include one aimed specifically at older people. One of the principles underpinning the standards is that fairness, equality and inclusion must underpin all aspects of community engagement. This should help ensure that older people are effectively engaged. The detail of how engagement is taken forward is a matter for community planning partnerships depending on local circumstances.

  The findings of the research Involving Older People: Lessons for Community Planning have been widely circulated to service planners and providers and were the focus of a conference organised by COSLA on 1 December 2003. This was designed to raise awareness and disseminate good practice supplementing the guidance referred to above.

  The Health White Paper, Partnership for Care, is explicit that looking at services from a patient’s point of view should be a key driver of change in the Health Service. Patient Focus and Public Involvement (PFPI) aims to ensure all patient and public groups are considered in NHS service planning as appropriate, taking full account of equality and diversity issues such as age, religion/faith, race/ethnicity, sexuality, disability and gender. Draft guidance to ensure that the public are informed, engaged and consulted on all policies and services developed by the Health Department and NHSScotland has recently been distributed to NHS board chief executives and other key stakeholders for final comment. This guidance takes account of equality issues, including age.

Environment

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000, what account was taken of the seasonal nature of food processing plants dealing with (a) agricultural produce, (b) horticultural produce and (c) pelagic fish species.

Allan Wilson: Seasonality was not specifically discussed prior to the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 being introduced. Nor was this issue raised by industry during the consultation process.

Environment

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000, what discussions were held with representative bodies of seafood processors prior to the drafting of the regulations and whether the issue of seasonality was raised during these discussions.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive consulted a wide range of trade associations and other organisations before the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 were made. Consultees included representatives of the fish processing industry. A total of five consultations were carried out. No responses to any of these consultations raised seasonality as an issue.

Environment

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000, whether it is appropriate for pelagic fish processing factories that operate for around six months of the year to meet the full cost of a Scottish Environment Protection Agency licence/permit and the cost of annual renewals of that licence/permit.

Allan Wilson: The level of charges for permits issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is based on the cost of processing applications. In the case of an application for a permit under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000, the resources required to determine the application are exactly the same irrespective of whether the site operates for only part of the year. Both the application fee and annual subsistence charges are based on average costs within the relevant industrial sector.

Europe

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each success referred to in paragraph 2 of the introduction to the Scottish Executive’s European Strategy.

Mr Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer given to the question S2W-4000 on 24 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Football

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to transfer authority and funds to the Scottish Football Partnership from the Football Trust; whether there have been any difficulties with regard to (a) transfer obligations, (b) indemnity insurance, (c) tax issues and (d) potential liability of individuals; if so, what such difficulties are, what action it is taking to resolve them and what representations it has made, or correspondence it has received, in respect of any such problems, and whether the Executive will ensure that funding can be made available to the Scottish Football Partnership to enable it to consider applications for funding.

Mr Frank McAveety: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6496 on 10 March 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding has been put in place to meet the increasing number of persons with HIV in care, in light of figures recording the highest annual number of new cases of HIV since the mid-1980s, as referred to in issue 172 of the Scottish Drugs Forum Bulletin.

Malcolm Chisholm: Following the publication of the report of the HIV Health Promotion Strategy Review Group in January 2001, the Executive increased the resources available to NHS boards by £2 million annually, to assist their work to prevent the spread of HIV and other bloodborne viruses. The allocation in 2003-04 is £8.12 million. Boards use these resources to fund measures to address a range of issues relating to HIV in their areas.

  Expenditure on treatment and care services for those suffering from HIV is a matter for individual boards to determine within their general funding allocations, which increased by a minimum of 7.4% across boards in 2003-04.

  Local authorities also have a key role in supporting those suffering from HIV. Substantial additional resources for community care have been allocated in the local government finance settlement to 2005-06.

  The Executive also provides some £500,000 to a range of voluntary organisations responding to the challenges posed by bloodborne viruses, particularly HIV and hepatitis C.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to ensure that effective communications are in place for older people with any cognitive impairment and what monitoring is in place to ensure equity of services for such patients, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS boards should aim to achieve the standards of care set by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Any significant shortfall should be identified through local clinical audit and governance arrangements. Where necessary NHS Quality Improvement Scotland will carry out follow up visits. Any major issues can be address through the annual accountability review process.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how discharge planning is monitored for older people leaving acute services, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.

Mr Tom McCabe: Discharge arrangements are monitored by NHS boards in conjunction with their local authority partners.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that care is planned for, and provided to, older people to cover situations where it is not possible or safe to provide an out-of-hours service, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.

Malcolm Chisholm: The National Overview identified the availability of such services, which are a key element in allowing people to return home when they are ready for discharge, as an issue for NHS boards to consider. NHS boards should aim to achieve the standards of care set by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Any significant shortfall should be identified through local clinical audit and governance arrangements. Where necessary NHS Quality Improvement Scotland will carry out follow up visits. Any major issues can be addressed through the annual accountability review process.

Higher Education Funding

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5668 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 January 2004, what support is being given to marine energy research in higher education institutions through the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

Lewis Macdonald: Information about the level of support is not held centrally. The allocation of funding for research to higher education institutions is a matter for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and legislation precludes ministers from directing funds to particular institutions or for specific areas of research.

Justice

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been received for the reciprocal enforcement of a maintenance order in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: The number of applications coming in to Scotland and going out from Scotland through the central authority is as follows:

  

 Year
 Number


 1999
 19 outgoing; 
  41 incoming


 2000
 11 outgoing; 
  34 incoming


 2001
 8 outgoing; 28 
  incoming


 2002
 19 outgoing; 
  48 incoming


 2003
 21 outgoing; 
  27 incoming


 2004
 6 outgoing; 10 
  incoming

Justice

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for the reciprocal enforcement of a maintenance order have been successfully enforced in each year since 1999 and in which countries.

Cathy Jamieson: The figures are as follows:

  

 Year
 Country
 Number


 1999
 
 None


 2000
 Australia
 1


 2001
 France
 1


 
 Ireland
 1


 
 USA
 1


 2002
 Australia
 1


 
 Ireland
 1


 
 USA
 4


 2003
 Canada
 1


 
 France
 2


 
 Germany
 1


 
 Holland
 1


 
 Ireland
 1


 
 Portugal
 1


 
 Spain
 1


 
 USA
 1


 2004
 USA
 1



  The applications successfully enforced in a specific year were not necessarily received in that year. Moreover these figures do not take into account applications which are still live.

Justice

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which countries are designated as reciprocating in respect of the reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders.

Cathy Jamieson: The following countries reciprocate with Scotland:

  Commonwealth and Ex-Commonwealth Countries

  (Dealt With Under Part I of The Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) 1972 Act)

  

 Anguilla
Australia
Barbados
Bermuda
Brunei
Canada (1)
Falkland Islands
Fiji
Ghana
 Gibraltar
Hong Kong
India
Isle of Man
Kenya
Malta
Nauru
New Zealand
 Norfolk Islands
Papua New Guinea
Singapore
St Helena
South Africa
Tanzania, United Republic of (2)
Turks & Caicos Islands
Zimbabwe



  Hague Convention Countries

  (Dealt With Under Part I Of The 1972 Act)

  

 Australia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
 Belgium
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands (3)
Norway
Poland
Portugal
 Lithuania
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey



  USA States – Final Orders Only

  (Dealt With Under Part I Of The 1972 Act)

  

 Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
 Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
 Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming



  UN Convention Countries

  (Dealt With Under Part Ii Of The 1972 Act)

  

 Algeria
Australia
Austria
Barbados
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chile
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Finland
France (4)
 Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Haiti
Holy See (Vatican)
Hungary
Israel
Italy
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Mexico
Monaco
Morocco
Netherlands (5)
New Zealand
Niger
Norway
Pakistan
 Phillippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Tunisia
Turkey
Uruguay
Yugoslavia



  USA States – Applications Only

  (Dealt With Under Part Ii Of The 1972 Act)

  


Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada

New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming



  Notes:

  1. Except Quebec, Prince Edward Island.

  2. Except Zanzibar.

  3. Including Kingdom in Europe and Netherlands Antilles.

  4. Including Comoro Archipelago, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Dependencies, St Pierre and Miquelon, and the overseas departments of Guadeloupe, Guiana, Martinique and Reunion.

  5. Including Kingdom in Europe, Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

Justice

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what statutory powers it has in respect of the reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders.

Cathy Jamieson: Of the bi-lateral or multi-lateral arrangements to which the UK is party for the reciprocal recovery of maintenance, the majority are incorporated into domestic law in terms of the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 or by modifications thereto. In terms of the 1972 Act, the Minister for Justice acts as Central Authority with support from the Scottish Executive Justice Department.

  Certain other arrangements are incorporated into domestic law in terms of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgements Act 1982. The Justice Minister has no formal statutory central authority role under that act.

Justice

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of livestock theft have been reported in the last two years and in what percentage of cases the culprits have been apprehended.

Cathy Jamieson: Information at this level of detail is not held centrally. Information is held on various types of theft, but this does not separately distinguish theft of livestock.

Local Government Finance

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the £6.8 million granted annually for local authority rehabilitation services will not be diverted to other services when such funds are built into the mainstream revenue grant to local authorities.

Malcolm Chisholm: The £6.8 million annual allocation continues within individual authorities’ grant aided expenditure resources, and we expect authorities to continue to use these resources for drug rehabilitation services. There has been no change to these arrangements which have been in place since 2001-02.

  Decisions at local level on spending priorities are a matter for individual authorities in liaison with their partners on drug action teams (DAT). This is to ensure an integrated approach to the provision of all drugs services in the DAT area, and to provide best value.

NHS Equipment

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has that at "trust level, over three quarters of trust boards continue to view medical equipment only as an operational issue", as referred to in Audit Scotland's report, Better Equipped to Care? - Follow-up report on managing medical equipment , and what action it is taking to change this view.

Malcolm Chisholm: We recognise the problems at local level which are identified and highlighted in the report. To address these issues we will consider the recommendations on management information carefully and discuss with NHS boards how improvements can be made. The strategic planning of medical equipment requirements is one of a number of components integral to the planning of sustainable clinical services. A requirement for NHS boards to identify capital investment on medical equipment as part of the financial information to support local health plans is being introduced from 1 April 2004 and as a follow up to the Audit Scotland report all NHS boards will be asked to respond to the recommendations made and detail what action they propose to take to comply with the recommendations.

National Health Service

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost would be to it of improving the management of suspected or actual poor performance by NHS health professionals and teams through (a) extending the remit of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland to include such management, (b) extending the remit of the National Clinical Assessment Authority, (c) creating a new special NHS board to deal with such management issues, (d) extending the remit of an existing NHS board to deal with such management issues and (e) contracting a private sector provider to deal with such management issues.

Malcolm Chisholm: The costs are not available and will be considered in due course on completion of the consultation document "Safer for Patients, Supportive for Professionals". The consultation is due to end on the 28 May 2004.

National Health Service

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the National Clinical Assessment Authority regarding the consultation paper "Safer for Patients, Supportive for Professionals".

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive is involved in ongoing discussion with the National Clinical Assessment Authority in support of work on the consultation paper "Safer for Patients, Supportive for Professionals".

National Health Service

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits there are of expanding the role of the National Clinical Assessment Authority to include Scotland, given NHS employers in Scotland’s responsibility for the management of suspected or actual poor performance.

Malcolm Chisholm: There may be potential benefits in expanding the role of the National Clinical Assessment Authority (NCAA) to provide its services in Scotland. However, the Scottish Executive is currently undertaking a consultation on the document Safer for Patients, Supportive for Professionals : A Framework for Managing Poor Performance of Health Professionals and Team in NHS Scotland.

  In the consultation paper, respondees have been asked to consider a number of potential options including the extension of the National Clinical Assessment Authority’s remit in relation to Scotland. The NCAA currently only deals with doctors and dentists which is inconsistent with the multi-professional and team approach to all workforce development and performance in Scotland.

National Health Service

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that there is thorough and rigorous documentation by NHS boards of patient assessment and progress.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has monitored the systems for ensuring that this documentation is in place through the Generic Clinical Governance Standards and will continue to monitor this through the Healthcare Governance Standards which are currently being consulted on.

National Health Service

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any NHS boards do not participate in the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit and, if so, which boards and what steps it is taking to ensure Scotland-wide participation.

Malcolm Chisholm: Participation in the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit is on a hospital basis and full coverage in all board areas is expected from 1 April 2004.

Nurses

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidences of poor performance by nurses have been brought to the attention of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) in each year since 1999 and in how many of these cases the CNO was approached for advice.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) may be informed by the NHS Board Director of Nursing of poor performance by individual nurses but this would be on a purely informal basis. In some instances, the CNO may be asked for advice on a particular situation. The CNO does not keep a record of such information.

Nurses

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many NHS nurses who work in Scotland have been reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council for poor performance in each year since 1999 and the outcome of each reported case.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive does not hold this information.

  The Nursing and Midwifery Council have provided the following information on Scottish cases referred to them for misconduct or lack of competence.

  

 
 Total cases 
  referred to NMC
 Scottish cases 
  referred to NMC


 2002-03
 1,301
 97


 2001-02
 1,304
 69


 2000-01
 1,240
 81


 1999-2000
 1,142
 92

Pharmacists

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many cases of poor performance by community pharmacists who work in Scotland have been identified by Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain investigations and the action taken in each case.

Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not held centrally.

Planning

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5375 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 21 January 2004, when it will now make, and announce, a decision on the supermarket retail development planning application at the Westway Retail Park, Arbroath.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The report of the public local inquiry into the proposed superstore at Westway Retail Park has recently been completed and the Scottish Ministers are now giving careful consideration to the Reporter’s findings and recommendation. A decision will be issued in due course.

Police

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the average annual cost is of policing potentially sectarian events such as marches and football matches.

Cathy Jamieson: Information on the cost of policing events such as marches and football matches is not held centrally and is a matter for individual chief constables.

Renewable Energy

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to provide clear guidelines for developers of hydroelectric schemes and other renewable projects so that their potential can be utilised.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive’s National Planning Policy Guideline 6 and Planning Advice Note 45 ensure that our commitment to exploiting the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy is pursued in tandem with natural and built heritage obligations and community interests. The policy principle is that developments should be accommodated where the technology can operate efficiently and environmental impacts can be addressed satisfactorily.

  Guidance on the Section 36 consents process is available on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/enterprise/energy

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has to prosecute polluters of land, air and water courses.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) does not itself have powers of prosecution. SEPA’s role is to enforce various environmental protection legislation for which it is the regulator, for example by issuing notices requiring certain works to be undertaken, to investigate cases where it suspects breaches of licence or notice conditions and to recommend prosecution to the Procurator Fiscal where appropriate.

  Decisions on whether to prosecute those who breach environmental legislation are entirely matters for the Crown Office and the Procurators Fiscal Service.

Suicide

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of attempted suicide there have been in psychiatric hospitals and units in each of the last five years, broken down by hospital or unit.

Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not available.

Tourism

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many telephone calls there are, on average, to the visitscotland.com national booking hotline, broken down by hour of day.

Mr Frank McAveety: This information by hour of day is not available. However, in 2003, visitscotland.com averaged approximately 1,200 calls per day.

Tourism

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff work for (a) visitscotland.com and (b) the visitscotland.com national booking hotline.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is an operational matter for visitscotland.com.

Tourism

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the visitscotland.com website will be accessible to all AOL users.

Mr Frank McAveety: As I said in the Parliament on 11 February, the visitscotland.com website is now accessible to AOL users.

Training

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations in respect of the viability of skills training programmes for the fishing industry.

Allan Wilson: Skills training programmes are operated by Group Training Associations which are funded by Seafish. While I am aware that Seafish has asked a consultant to look into aspects of the Group Training Association functions, I am not aware that the Executive has received representations in respect of their viability.